Many nurses are going back to school to earn doctorate degrees, but does that give them the right to call themselves doctor?

Many physicians don’t think so, and they are pushing for legislation to restrict who gets to call themselves a doctor, reports New York Times health reporter Gardiner Harris.

As more nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists claim this honorific, physicians are fighting back. For nurses, getting doctorates can help them land a top administrative job at a hospital, improve their standing at a university and get them more respect among colleagues and patients. But so far, the new degrees have not brought higher fees from insurers for seeing patients or greater authority from states to prescribe medicines….

Dr. Roland Goertz, the board chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, says that physicians are worried that losing control over “doctor,” a word that has defined their profession for centuries, will be followed by the loss of control over the profession itself. He said that patients could be confused about the roles of various health professionals who all call themselves doctors.

Think about the way we most commonly view art. We may go to a museum, gallery, or show. We might pay an admission fee, have a membership card, or gather in a crowded room, sipping wine out of plastic cups. Doesn’t it seem more logical to bring art to where the people are or where they most need it? Doesn’t it make sense to bring it to a place where there’s a captive audience who would benefit from diversion, calming imagery, and creativity?

Over the last several blogs, I have looked at design elements that define a successful pediatric facility, from the radiology unit to the emergency department, and the private patient room. Children have unique healthcare needs that require unique design choices.

Here are six design considerations that define a well-planned pediatric unit:

Thomas Jefferson enshrined in this country’s civil religion the “pursuit of happiness” as an unalienable right. But if a medical practice’s staff is successful in that pursuit, does it translate into happy patients?

In a 2009 Harvard Business Review article, Rosa Chun, a professor of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, and Gary Davies, a professor of corporate reputation at Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom, wrote a brief article disputing the conventional wisdom that happy employees yield happy customers. Their study, they say, found no correlation between employee satisfaction and service. But others are skeptical—very skeptical.

Not surprisingly, those on both sides of the issue can point to research to support their position.

“There’s a long line of research that shows that being happy—to the extent that one takes care of personal needs only—doesn’t translate to good customer or patient care,” says Billie Blair, PhD, president/CE of Change Strategies, Inc., and the author of All The Moving Parts (Puzzles Press, 2007).